


Moonlight and Swords

by Sparkle (kirax2)



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Swords & Sorcery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-20
Updated: 2010-06-20
Packaged: 2018-07-25 10:23:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7529035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kirax2/pseuds/Sparkle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU Bingo card prompt, "Fantasy and Supernatural: Sword and Sorcery".<br/>A friend prompted: "Scouts as Knights, Usagi as Queen".</p>
            </blockquote>





	Moonlight and Swords

The Queen loosened the saddle, seeing to her horse. Only when Luna was settled did she turn to her companions. They were gazing at the crest of the hill which overlooked the village, where two figures were approaching. The Queen smiled.

"It is as we feared," said Uranus, removing her male garments. "Beryl and her forces hold sway here. The people have been commanded to erect jade statues of her generals at the four corners of the city. If she follows the prior pattern, she will then animate the statues and use them to keep watch over the people, punishing those who would fight her rule."

"She demands blood tributes, too," growled Jupiter. Despite her height, she made a far less convincing male, and was forced to bind her breasts and wear loose, heavy clothing to hide her true gender. She sighed with relief as Mercury helped her unwind the wrappings from her chest.

"Tomorrow we will attack," said Venus firmly. "Mercury and Neptune, in the morning you will explain the plan." Mercury was a tactical genius, while Neptune was better at seeing the whole picture, sometimes picking up important things Mercury missed.

"We should sleep soon," said Pluto in her deep voice, and the others nodded. Pluto was the eldest of them. She had been at each of their births, though her dark hair and rich, coffee-colored skin seemed untouched by time. When she spoke, even the Queen deferred to her.

* * *

They did not sleep immediately, though. Mars sat, staring into the fire, until the Queen sat down next to her and whispered, "Have you divined something?"

Giving her Queen a small smile, Mars shook her head. "Nothing you do not already know, my Queen." She paused, then went on, "I am uneasy. My prophecies do not have the range of Pluto's divinations, but I have begun to sense a feeling of foreboding hanging over them. It may be that the time approaches..."

The Queen swallowed. The time of their triumph - and defeat. Pluto had foretold it long ago. They would triumph over the forces of Beryl and Metallia, but at great cost, all of them falling in the final battle. But as the moon always returned to full strength, so would they one day, 28 centuries hence.

"Serenity will protect us," said the Queen, and Mars' smile widened.

"The goddess created me and marked me as one of her chosen ones. She bestowed her gifts on me." Her hand pressed against her Queen's thigh for a moment. "And yet, it is you who has all my faith, my Queen."

The Queen could not smile back.

* * *

Gradually each of them bedded down, their chosen weapons close at hand. Mercury, with her two daggers, hidden from sight as always. Jupiter with her huge broadsword. Mars had a blade as well, a strange thin one created by a Master by folding and re-folding the steel thousands of times and sharp enough to cleanly sever a man's head from his body. Venus had her flail, the chain of which had entangled many a sword and man. Uranus had her curved scimitar, Pluto her staff. Saturn was the youngest of them, hardly more than a child, yet she was one of the most feared when her scythe swept through enemies and cut them down like so many stalks of wheat. Neptune had polished her warhammer until it shone like a mirror in the fire's dying light.

Only their Queen appeared unarmed and helpless. Many had made the mistake of underestimating her, until her razor sharp discus sliced through their hands or necks.

A nearly full moon hung in the sky above them. Each of them had been born into her service, made priestess and warrior, sorceress and soldier by her gifts. Each of them had been named for one of the 'wanderers' through the sky, even those that could not be seen but that their lore told them existed. They called each other 'sister', for they were all Children of the Moon, though only one of them was Daughter of the Moon in truth.

The Queen's mother and father had been unable to bear children, until Serenity had come to the woman in a dream and explained that she was destined to carry the child who would one day become the Queen.

The Queen stirred restlessly, tired, yet unable to sleep. She thought of her husband, left behind to rule as she and her fellow warriors sought to free the land from Metallia's dark influence, one village at a time. She thought of the tiny child she'd left in his care, and wondered if she would see her again.

Eventually she slept.


End file.
